The frescoed picture of the duke and his family on the walls of the Camera degli Sposi looks so peaceful -- you would never guess that a murder has just taken place.Prince Lodovico of Mantua invites the painter Mantegna to his palace to decorate one of the rooms. The painting is slowly completed and the prince's secretary records its progress in his gossip-laden diary. The story is then taken up by the prince's daughter, the dwarf Nana, whose story digs deeper into characters and motivations around the palace, and is quite forthright about deceits and vendettas, assassination and incest within its walls. It is completed by the painter's young son, Bernardino, who introduces a note of high fantasy into the narrative. What results is a beautiful yet startling picture of the Renaissance, as rich and colorful as the men and women depicted on the palace walls.
- ISBN10 1860465935
- ISBN13 9781860465932
- Publish Date 20 April 2000 (first published 31 March 2000)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 20 October 2003
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Vintage Publishing
- Imprint The Harvill Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 96
- Language English